Time of change
by Song-of-a-Curlew
Summary: They came from the sky. They said we were killing the earth and offered to fix everything. The one thing we shouldn't have done, which was to accept their offer, we did. And that sent each an every human into a sleep lasting three hundred years.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:  
They came from the sky, . People said we were alone but they couldn't have been more wrong. They said we were killing the earth and offered to help. The one thing we shouldn't have done, which was to accept their offer, we did. And that sent each an every human into a sleep lasting three hundred years.

Chapter one: Awake

I felt a massive weight being lifted from my consciences. Like a thick, heavy black curtain being removed from the insides of my eyelids. I could see light, tinted red through my eyelids. I missed light being trapped in a dark lifeless cage of your mind can make you miss a lot of things, but light is most assuredly in the top three. I immediately clung to it, savoring the familiarity and the warmth of the dim filtered light.  
My eyes felt thick and dry from lack of use even before I opened them. I flitted them about to fix this discomfort and slowly but surely I opened them. Instantaneously gaining the feeling in all the seemingly dead nerve endings in my body. I could hear, smell, and feel my weight pressing down on a hard metal surface. It was like stepping back into a hollow yet perfectly functional skin that one had vacated years ago.  
I felt the sting of a solid metal thing being pulled from my arm that had obviously been buried inside my skin for a long time. The feeling was absolutely horrid, making me gasp and pull my arm away with jerky, clumsy movements. I felt the foreign object rip at my skin, pulling this way and that.  
A hand took hold of my arm and muffled cloudy words from a man attempted to reach my ears. Panic spread like tangy electricity throughout my entire body. It started in my stomach and raced through my blood veins. I ripped my shoulder away from a new hand That was attempting to restrain me as well. Only this time the hand didn't want to give me up so easily, it pushed y shoulder down with a painful force. Soon multiple people had hold of me as I tried, failed and succeeded to force my way out of their stinging grasp.  
I writhed and twisted, struggling to be free. I found my self colliding with cold hard linoleum floor below. Pain shooting up my spine.  
"Stop!" A man shouted to the hands that were greedily trying to restrain me again. The room fell silent immediately. Everyone paused, a hollow silence cascaded on everything, like a soft fleece blanket.  
The blinding white light that was all I could see began to dim finally and I could make out murky shapes of at least nine humanoid figures before me. My ears were ringing painfully from the lack of noise. I had backed up harshly, slamming into a corner, my head collided with the wall, sending stars into my already poor vision. I was encased in a defensive position with my arms wrapped around my knees, an my knees pressed tightly against my chest. My breath was heavy and fast from the physical exertion, blatantly giving away my fear and anxiety.  
"Alasdair, listen to me, we are not going to hurt you" said the same man who had called off the people. He said so with a note of urgency in his voice. This man was older and kind looking. His hair had long since turned grey and he was tall and had an average build. "Please calm down" he added lowering his hands in a gesture that told the end of the frantic scene.  
"This isn't how the others reacted" a severe looking bespectacled woman said looking over a clipboard with wide frazzled eyes. I narrowed my eyes at her. She was the only one not garbed in a white scrub. She looked utterly terrified of me. I'll be honest, I felt a twinge of satisfaction from this fact.  
The man ignored her and took a step towards me extending a hand down to me. I stared at him, my breathing began to regulate and calm. For at least forty five seconds I made no intention of moving and accepting the offer the man before me gave. When I finally decided I could trust him I accepted his offer and he helped me to my feet, steadying me when my trembling muscles failed to keep me up right.  
"Welcome back to the world of consciousness my dear" he said finally as he lowered me into a cushioned chair adjacent to the examination table where I was just previously. "My name is Alden" he said extending his hand in greeting. I knew this man was not human, that he was an alien. But part of my brain told me it was okay. That he would not lie to me.  
I was still out of breath and only was barely able to shake it. He dismissed those around him and each of them obliged except for the woman who was out of place. She had to huff indignantly before dismissing her self. Alden took a seat in a chair across from mine a merely watched me. He had a pleasant smile upon his face I made a point not to look at him  
"Do you remember what happened before you were asleep?" Alden asked gently. I gave a small nod, still avoiding his gaze, my eyes transfixed on a tiny chip in the floor "Can you talk?" Again, I only nodded. He paused in waiting. "well?..." He added patiently.  
At last I looked into his eyes "That's not my name" I mumbled averting my eyes almost as quickly as ours met.  
"I'm sorry?"  
"Alasdair is not my name" I repeated a little more loudly, clenching my fists, my eyes fixed upon that nicked linoleum again. I heard him sigh.  
"I know it's not. It's the name I gave you. You see; You and around eight hundred other humans were chosen out of all seven billion of you. You all were chosen to awaken early, to learn as we do, no one will hurt you here. I promise that" he said with a light smile. I stared at him skeptically reading his deceptively human-looking face.  
The clicking of a door handle made me jump. The woman who stood out earlier walked in again. Her heels clicking on the tiled floor and she had a fake smile plastered to her face "Alden that's enough, she most start he training, like the rest " She said in a sweet high pitched voice. I blinked at her in disbelief. I really hope she didn't think I was stupid.  
Alden stood and took a few steps toward the door as though he were trying to keep the conversation from reaching my ears "I'm doing my job Iliana" he replied calmly. "There is no rush in that"  
The woman whose name was evidently Iliana shot a glance at me and lowered her voice so severely I almost couldn't hear it. "None of the others reacted so... violently"  
"It was simply human nature" he said with a chuckle. He then he turned to me holding out a hand again "lets get you out of this place, it must be wearing on you quite a bit" Alden said with a smile.  
I accepted his assistance staring directly into Iliana's eyes. Not for any reason in particular, just to piss her off.

-hey guys! Welcome to my first ever story! I know it's not a traditional fairy tale, but what the hey. If you like it please please please review and/or follow! I will post as often as I can.

-Lou


	2. Chapter 2

Hello all! Today's my birthday so I thought I'd share some love with you! Please let me know what you think!

Chapter two: Settling in

I was herded through bright florescently light halls and soon was separated from Alden in a hasty trade off "you'll be fine, I promise" he said to me. He gave a nod to a woman in greeting I was now in the care of a rather bold looking woman. She was tall and had an athletic build. Her hair was an extraordinarily long mousy brown. I looked at Alden hoping he could see the desperation I felt, nevertheless we were parted.  
Without a word she walked on, her quick pace was almost impossible for me to match. The woman stopped suddenly, looking at me, causing me to nearly plow into her. Her strait posture forced her harsh gaze downward. Her hand paused, hovering on a door knob "My name is Evanee, but to you it's Evin. I will be your mentor. Do we have an understanding?"  
"You bet" I replied a little stunned. I liked this girl. So what if she wasn't human, that mush was obvious. her in-humanity was evident in her unusually tall stature, traditionally long hair and lavender eyes.  
Evin opened the door, the sun light blinded me again like before. Only this was real light, no fake florescence or bulb, it was a burning sun. Before my eyes had completely adjusted I felt a had pull my wrist and my feet stumbled over each other as I was lead on again.  
By now my legs worked as good as new. They ached a bit, but I'll be honest, all of me ached.  
"Welcome to Nuarth, one of many villages for human training. Here we specify in weapons and fighting. You got lucky kid, this is the biggest and the best. Meant only for the use of the talented" Evin said, stopping before one on many wooden buildings. People wove in and out of pathways, buildings and small gatherings. Each person was accompanied by another. Human and alien, like a dog and a trainer.  
"So this is how it will be for a long time" I said as I looked out upon the impressive scene before me.  
"How what will be" Evin asked with little to no interest in her expression.  
"No freedom" I replied. My eyes flicking to the pairs.  
Evin laughed, and shook her head, like I was a child who knew nothing. She started to make her way toward one of the biggest buildings. "You had freedom. You can get it back when you've learned... This is where you'll be staying, humans only. Is that free enough for you sweetheart or can I just send you back to sleep?" She sneered. But before I could deliver the snarky answer I had formed in my mind she cut me off "go get cleaned up, you have two hours."  
It set me at ease to be among my people, everyone around me looked just a confused and lost as I was. We were each assigned our own designated living spaces. Tiny little rooms with only a small window, even smaller bed, dresser and mirror. It wasn't much but it was mine.  
I shut the heavy wooden door, cutting off the quiet din of footsteps and chatter. I walked over to my bed running my hand over the thick woolen sheets. I felt like crying. Not with sadness, but with simple and utter emotion. I sank to my knees in defeat. Defeated by the world, by my circumstances.  
Slowly, after some time of familiar and heavy silence, I turned to my reflection for the first time in what apparently was hundreds of years I studied the figure before me. The human was vaguely familiar. I knew the fair skin peppered with light freckles, the tired earth colored eyes that held years of sadness, and fear but the one new feature the person possessed was her hair. It was my hair, I knew that much. It was still the deep rusty blood red but it was not shoulder length as I had last seen it. It now reached the small of my back. this sight startled me. I looked like one of them. Everything was familiar yet everything that shown back in that mirror felt like a strange lie. This was all a dream, a fantasy in my mind... Aliens didn't exist. They couldn't possibly and coincidentally be able to speak English, they couldn't be near twins to us.

But they are.

And I've never been so unsure in my life.

Hope you liked it! I know this chapter was boring and kinda short, but you know how it is, you gotta establish everything before we get to the good stuff. Now I write all of this on an iPhone, so if there are mistakes let me know! Please review it will help me tremendously!

-Lou


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: learning their ways

I sat in my room for a good thirty minuets doing nothing when there was a quiet rap on my door.  
"Yes?" I asked, looking up. A small lavender-eyed girl open my door, she couldn't have been over thirteen.  
"I've been sent to assist you" she whispered.  
"With what?" I asked rather sharply.  
She ignored the harshness and stepped into my room fully now, shutting the door behind her "getting you presentable" she shrugged as she began rummaging through my closet. She tossed an olive green tunic at me along with deep brown leggings. She turned around and crossed her arms, waiting.  
I rolled my eyes and huffed at the young girl. I switched out my attire and then she pulled out a wooden chair pointing to it "sit" she said.  
When I obliged she began tugging at the knots in my hair. "We were really asleep for that long weren't we?" I asked, looking at her through the mirror  
She nodded "how'd you guess?" She muttered with a tone of sarcasm.  
"My hair" I stated.  
She shrugged "I think it's pretty. Only. Humans have red hair"  
"How old are you anyway?"  
"To a human? Twelve." She said simply.  
After she finished pinning a few locks of hair back to keep away from my face and stepped back to look at me, she must have decided I was up to par and she then shooed me out of my own room.  
"Evin will already be furious." She warned.  
She was not lying. I saw Evin before she saw me and the scowl on her face made me cringe. "You look lovely princess, took you long enough" she said. "Come on, lets see what you can already do." She said leading me down a path that wove into a wood. "Now I mentioned before that we specialize in fighting here. So I need to get the general understanding of your physicality. No guns, those were all destroyed during the rebuild-"  
"Rebuild?" I asked, interrupting her.  
"Yeah, while you were all napping"  
We fell into a silence as we walked. I gazed out into the coniferous trees that surrounded us. They were tall and strong, and over ten feet. . No trees like this had ever existed on the earth I knew, at least, none I remember.  
"Evin!" Some one called out. I looked from the trees to see a young man smiling and making his way over to myself and my acquaintance. He greeted Evin with a crushing brotherly hug. "How ya been?" He asked letting her go.  
"Never better." Evin replied with a grin  
His pale purple gaze fell upon me now. "You must be Axelia" he said extending his hand to me. The name given to me made me flinch, but I smiled anyway and shook it. "I'm Clint." He retuned his attention to Evin and continued on the path.  
I slipped into my own little world again, my mind wandering and drifting this way an that. Suddenly something was thrust into my arms. I scrambled around as to not drop it.  
"Focus Axelia" Evin snapped at me. "Ever use one of these before?" She asked.  
I didn't even know what I was holding and upon further inspection I realized it was a bow.  
"Oh... Yeah, I've shot a long bow before. My sister had one..." I said starting off confidently but my voice slipped.  
My sister. My twin. I instantly panicked. My breathing took off and the bow clattered to the ground. I covered my mouth with both of my trembling hands.  
"Hey, Ev, maybe we shouldn't start with the bow" Clint said, eying my reaction with a note of worry.  
"Shit" Evin muttered, setting down the quiver in that was in her hands. "Okay, um hey Axelia I need you to relax okay?" She said, not very good at the whole comforting thing.  
I ignored her, my mind was encapsulated in the thought of my sister. We are fraternal; we looked different, and thought differently. She loved nature, she was unique and didn't give a damn about the ridicule that came from it. She was my best friend.  
Evin reached for me and I threw her hand away "where is she!" I practically yelled moving my face inches from hers so I looked her strait in the eye. Evanee lost her usual steely expression and fell silent. Every muscle in my body told me to attack this alien, to do anything possible to see my sister. The sudden rage was too much and I knew I had I leave the situation.  
I left the small building in seconds and took off into the woods. The soft pine needles muffling my footsteps and put a familiar scent into my nose. I ran as hard as I could getting as far away as possible.

Hey all! Well writing this chapter took some time, I apologize but at least it's here! I just wanted to mention I have chosen each of my characters name for a very specific reason. Except Clint, I may end up changing his name... Anyway, I rambling... Please review! It makes me a happy little camper!  
-Lou


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